PORTSMOUTH — Turmoil in the Muslim world, including an attack that left the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans dead, is occurring because of the country's perceived weakness and President Barack Obama's "failure to lead."

U.S. Sen. John McCain brought that message to voters in Portsmouth Monday during a speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 168 on Deer St.

The town hall-style event was aimed at rallying local veterans to support Republican Mitt Romney in the fall election. A former prisoner of war with a distinguished military career, McCain spoke at four events in the Granite State Monday in an effort to reach out to service members and their families. He spoke at VFW posts in Nashua and Franklin and at an event with law enforcement officers in Manchester before traveling to the Seacoast.

McCain was joined in Portsmouth by freshman Republican Congressman Frank Guinta, who is pitted in an election rematch this year against his Democratic opponent from 2010, former U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter.

McCain warned the Sept. 11 attack on the American Consulate in Libya is an example of "upheaval" in the Middle East that can be traced to a perception the United States is ineffectual overseas. The flow of weapons into Syria and attacks on U.S. installations in Afghanistan are further examples, McCain said.

An anti-Muslim film has been implicated in violent protests that occurred in Libya and in Egypt. The film, "Innocence of Muslims," mocked Muslims and the Prophet Muhammad and may have caused inflamed mobs that attacked U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya. A California Coptic Christian has acknowledged his role in managing and providing logistics for the controversial production.

What started with protesters scaling the embassy wall in Cairo last week over the amateurish video deriding Islam's holiest figure has mushroomed into a maelstrom of disquiet throughout the Muslim world. In Libya, U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed when protesters stormed the consulate in Benghazi. Anti-U.S. protests in 20 countries led the Pentagon to dispatch elite Marine antiterrorism teams to Libya and Yemen and to position two Navy warships off Libya's coast.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Sunday that the attack appears to have been a spontaneous eruption of violence, but McCain called it "disgraceful" that the Obama administration has denied the attack was planned.

Addressing a crowd of about 80 people, McCain said the use of rocket-propelled grenades and other heavy weapons suggests they were a "well-orchestrated attack." McCain said the president's failed policies have "encouraged our adversaries."

McCain, a former Republican presidential contender, has a track record of support in New Hampshire, where he won primaries in 2000 and 2008. McCain defeated Romney to win the GOP nod four years ago before going on to lose a close race to Obama.

McCain fielded questions from audience members Monday, discussing issues that varied from a striking teachers union in Chicago to the Republican Party's difficulty connecting with young voters and the long-term insolvency of the Medicare program.

Among those in the audience was Portsmouth resident Chris Hackett, who was joined by his wife, Abbie Hackett, and their daughters Charlotte, 7, and Francis, 5. The four family members rode a caravan of bicycles from their home on Dennett Street to attend.

Chris Hackett, a registered Republican, said he voted for McCain in the presidential primary in 2008 and finds McCain's history as a war hero and longtime senator appealing.

"He's been someone that we've always followed, and any time you get a chance to bring the kids out to see somebody like Sen. McCain, you know, you've got to take advantage of that," Chris Hackett said.

Hackett said the biggest issue on his mind this election season is job creation. He has friends looking for employment, and he's seen sluggish activity in the equipment rental business he co-owns with his wife. The couple also runs a sales consulting business, which focuses on marketing broadcast equipment made in the United States in foreign markets. Hackett said he doesn't believe the country is better off now than when Obama took office in 2008.

"New Hampshire will be the focus of the country, and they will be watching," McCain said of this year's election, "and I'm asking my fellow veterans who understand the dangers that this country faces, and challenges, to get our veterans out to vote, and get them active in this campaign. There's just too much service — too much sacrifice that we've made."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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